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Steve's Bookshelf 2013


Karsa Orlong

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I bet he'd look even younger if he cleaned that damn green paint off his face! :P

 

 

Dunno what you mean :P

 

:giggle2:

 

 

Happy birthday mate! Some brilliant presents there, you must be pleased! Great review as well, I now really really want to read this trilogy but it's not in my plan... for now.

 

 

That's the problem with plans :lol:

 

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone :D

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Happy Birthday Steve!!! I would never of pictured you as being 47!

 

Love the gifts by the way :)

Edited by Devi
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Those Rush autographs are fakes :irked:   After I posted the photo earlier I dug out my signed tourbook collection, which I got through the band's fan club, and compared the signatures and they didn't match up, so I posted the photo on the Rush forum and was immediately told by a couple of collectors on there that they aren't real.

 

I'm not so upset for myself, but I feel awful for my friend who went to the effort and paid for them.  Somebody's a bit richer at his expense  :(

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Those Rush autographs are fakes :irked:   After I posted the photo earlier I dug out my signed tourbook collection, which I got through the band's fan club, and compared the signatures and they didn't match up, so I posted the photo on the Rush forum and was immediately told by a couple of collectors on there that they aren't real.

 

I'm not so upset for myself, but I feel awful for my friend who went to the effort and paid for them.  Somebody's a bit richer at his expense  :(

Awww, I'm so sorry to hear that.  :(  :hug:

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Hopefully Karma will bite the forgers in the bum!!

 

 

I'm glad you said 'Karma' and not 'Karsa' :lol:

 

 

A belated gift arrived today:

 

DSC00714_zps18a19b0b.jpg

 

 

This is to replace my battered old paperback copy, which I gave to charity before Christmas :smile:

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Love the new book!

 

Very pretty. 

 

p.s. I wish I had said Karsa now! :giggle2:

Edited by Devi
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That is a great book! I was thinking of getting that one myself but opted for the smaller kindle version.

 

 

I've got the Kindle version, too, but my friend asked me what I wanted for my birthday and this just seemed a great idea - one to keep forever :smile:

 

 

Wandering around Forbidden Planet this morning, nearly but not quite buying loads of books that were nowhere near my wishlist, but have decided that Paul Kearney needs to be bumped up that list and soon, although I might start with his 'Monarchies of the Gods' books rather than The Ten Thousand (which is the one that's on my wishlist)  :smile:

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Book #12:  The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time Book 2) by Robert Jordan

 

GreatHunt_zps62136cb0.jpg

 

 

Blurb:

 

The second book in Robert Jordan's internationally bestselling epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

This is a spoiler-free zone - I won't go into story specifics, or use a more detailed blurb, as I know others are or will be reading this book soon.

 

I was expecting an improvement with this book but I ended up finding it very frustrating.  There are a handful of decent twists and ideas in here but - for me, at least - they are almost completely undermined by a hackneyed plot (and sub-plots) and an amount of padding that nearly makes the bloated, statuesque pacing of A Dance with Dragons palatable.  Nearly. 

 

As with the first book, there is evidence here that Jordan knew what he was doing.  There are parts where I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.  Unfortunately, they are short-lived, and surrounded by page after page of bland, derivative characters either explaining the plot for the umpteenth time, or whining about their lot in life.  It has all the angst of a teen drama at times, and the ordinary nature of Jordan's prose doesn't help.  Repetition is still a bugbear, and even worse in this book.  An exclamation beginning with 'Light!' appears seemingly on every page and other expressions ('burn me', 'fortune prick me', 'Wooly-headed fool', 'the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills' etc etc) are repeated so many times I'm convinced they are there only to bolster the word-count.  The action scenes turn into a list of the 'forms' that Rand has learned.  This worked once, but then becomes an excuse to not actually offer a proper description of the fights.  Humour is sorely lacking, too.  The only laugh it got out of me was when they went to an inn called The Nine Rings.  At least Jordan was honest about his influences :lol:

 

I'm aware, of course, that some of these criticisms can be levelled at other epic fantasies.  The glacial pacing of the last two 'Ice & Fire' books make me think Martin has no clue where his story is going, whilst a couple of Steven Erikson's later books are padded to the point where I wanted to scream at him to 'get on with it!'  They could all do with better, stronger editors, but both those authors are at least trying to do something different with the genre.  The Great Hunt is yet another 'quest' story, with 'shadow' lurking in the background.  If it were populated by Martin's characters, or Erikson's invention, or Abercrombie's wit, or Gemmell's heart, I would probably have a much different opinion.  But they are among my favourites, so I am bound to think that.

 

As it is, I am just about okay with 'The Wheel of Time'.  Despite all my complaints, it is still readable.  I keep telling myself that all the people who love this series can't be wrong, and keep wondering what I'm missing.  Whenever I rip into a book in this way I always think to myself 'well, if you can do better, go and write it yourself'.  It hasn't happened yet, naturally :lol:  I think, though, that by the end of the second book, I should be gripped, yet all I'm feeling is a sinking feeling brought on by the thought of having to wade through the third one.  But, somehow, in the final 20 or 30 pages, there was almost - almost - enough there to make me curious about what will happen next.

 

I think it'll be a while before I do so, however - and that, perhaps, is my most telling criticism.  When I finished A Game of Thrones I went out the next day and bought A Clash of Kings.  When I finished Gardens of the Moon I went out the next day and bought Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice.  I'm not going out today to buy The Dragon Reborn.

 

 

6/10

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Nice review, it's good to read your thoughts on the book. I liked reading about the forms of the combat and I like the little phrases such as "Light!", I thought it made the world unique, to me they weren't overused.

 

Sorry you didn't like the book that much. I guess to each their own. I didn't like Gardens of the Moon when I read it (I'm hoping that will change when I reread it), you really like that book. I hope your next read will be more enjoyable.

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